Hi all, i know i already posted pictures of my dog in the "Just For Fun" section, but those were taken back in January/February when it hadnt occured to me that i wanted to pick up Photography as a hobby. So, a few days ago after school i went outside with my dog and attempted to take some better pictures of her playing with her favorite outdoors toy.

Please post any constructive criticism or just general comments you may have.

You cut off part of her body on every shot (except first one), watch out for this in the future, I would say the pic with the most potential would be the 3rd, but with needed improvement on composition. I would have put more space on the left and frame her more on the right side. Remember your rule of thirds, doesnt need to be used with every picture you take, just remember the concept.

To start with, search out some information on photography composition. These are nothing but static snapshots of your dog, and as said, most have the dog cut off.

I've been playing out in the yard with my yellow Lab for the past couple of weeks trying to get a good photo of her in action. It's not easy. She is very fast. I've taken probably hundreds of photos now and nothing is good.

Once you read a bit and understand composition, try some stuff out on an easier subject. Flowers, landscapes, or something other than the dog. Like I said, I'm finding it quite difficult to use the dog as a photographic subject. With a static subject, you can explore the composition "rules" and frame your photos in different ways to see what works and what doesn't.

After learning about composition, start in on the different modes of the camera, aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual. From there, seek out info on aperture, shutter, and ISO and how they relate to one another to create the exposure.

You can see in your examples above how some shots the grass is way too bright while the dog is very dark. That's a result of using your camera in automatic mode. You need to understand metering the scene, which is when your camera is measuring the light and adjusting the exposure. In auto, the camera assumes and adjusts automatically. In the more manual modes (A, S, or M) you are in more control along with using some of the different metering modes.

Check out many topics on Luminous Landscape or Cambridge in Colour (just noticed now that it is "Colour" and not "Color") to get some great information. It takes a while to understand everything, but it is all quite simple once you do understand. It takes a lot more than just pointing a camera and pressing the shutter button.

Have fun. Lot's to read and learn, but it's quite satisfying when you get hooked on the photography stuff.

As mentioned, your composition is in need of more practice. Dogs are very expressive and you should want to capture that. The eyes and ears are very important IMO to help communicate those emotions. Which means to focus on the eyes and do not cut off the ears if possible. As always, there are exceptions..... here, hereand here for example.

Your pooch has a very dark face, so you will need to pay attention to the light to get the best out of her. I don't know what type of gear you are using, but an external flash will help immensely.